Chats With Kick Ass Menswear Guys: Patrick Grant of E. Tautz

Patrick Grant of Savile Row’s Norton & Sons, and now E. Tautz, is this kind of real-life James Bond character: a towering, perfectly turned-out Brit, he commands a room with his sometimes lengthy, but always easy explanations. If he didn’t happen to readjust his double-breasted jacket every so often, he’d show no visible signs of effort at all: utter nonchalance and calm, friendly energy. And since he’s a bit of an encyclopedia of British clothing, we sat back, and we listened...

On the current U.K. menswear landscape:

You know, it’s been nice. There is a bit of a U.K. revival going on right now, and some very good things coming out of it. There’s sort of a return to fine clothing happening the world over, and that definitely favors us. There’s always been a focus in Britain on quality, and timelessness, but there has also been an aversion to doing things with a nod to fashion, or in any way that would upset the many generations of Savile Row heritage...

It is a stubbornness of sorts, that hesitancy to change?

Not so much a stubbornness, I don’t believe. More of a lack of confidence. These family owned Savile Row establishments are afraid to step outside their sometimes stodgy practices, because it’s simply always how it’s been done. We experienced quite the fall for many years: as you know, as recently as the late 70s, London was "it" for menswear, and tailored clothing. Even someone like Ralph Lauren was able to leverage the popularity of the Carnaby Street movement, and the peacocking: that Austin Powers look that, although funny today, really was cool, and popular at the time, lest we forget. I’m not sure what happened to those guys, the houses that were running men’s tailored clothing at the time... perhaps they took too much acid. In any event, that downfall gave way to the Italians, and so forth, which continued through much of the 80s and 90s with Armani, the rebirth of Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, etc. Someone like Brioni probably interns as many tailors apprentices every year as the whole of Savile Row!

On starting a brand:

Well, we were never in a position where we had a benefactor giving us a million quid, and saying "go at it." We worked extremely hard: 90-100 hour weeks for three years. It was absolutely insane. I remember that I’d get an afternoon off, and all I’d want to do is go to my flat, and lie on the floor for a whole day, or sit on the balcony overlooking London and just pass out with my face in the sun. I was so tired. It’s a luxury having the seven employees we have now at E. Tautz. We just moved into a new studio several months ago, down on the old London docks, this great area. You can roll these big, old windows down and actually have the water lap at the edge of the space, the birds flying around and what not. There’s a pub around the corner that’s been in operation since the 1500s. You know, back to my point about starting a business, it seems that even having a load of support behind you isn’t a direct indication of succeeding these days, that’s how hard it is out there. Look at Tom Ford, he’s had his menswear collection for what, four or five years, and it’s just now becoming super popular, and selling. And he’s Tom Ford!

Well, the cornerstones of the brand are sporting, and military-based. So, we are always going to focus on those aspects in our work. For us, we really like simple things: we search for the best cloths, the best yarns, and small, extremely capable manufacturers that are going to be able to produce garments that are the very best. It’s funny, but in the market now, people appreciate something traditional, simple, well-made, with minor alterations that bring it up to being modern. We have a cashmere, crew-neck, ribbed sweater for pre-fall next year, and we brought it to Barneys, and they went simply nuts for it. We’re sitting there thinking, "well it’s just a jumper," but something basic and beautiful can be hard to find, or for manufacturers: hard to nail down. We have this amazing archive, and these great, old sporting images. One that comes to mind is a US Olympian excepting his trophy in a Yale sweatshirt: because these guys didn’t have uniforms, they’d have these great college scarves, and trenches, and so forth. We love that approach to mixing tailored with totally casual. We want people to be able to effortlessly mix these great pieces into their current wardrobe: that’s kind of E. Tautz.

On all these short jackets:

Oh, bumfreezers? That’s what we call them on the Row. I think a slightly longer jacket, and a higher waisted pant looks better on a man. Just my opinion.

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